The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh recently published circular 02/2018 which outlines a $195 USD overflight permit fee for non-scheduled foreign aircraft transiting the VGFR/Dhaka FIR . The fee is certainly on the high side but the disappointing part is : “The payment is non-refundable, irrespective of the approval or rejection to the permit request.” […]

On October 19th, 2018, the FAA released rule 83 FR 52954 updating guidance on operations in the Simferopol (UKFV) and Dnipropetrovsk  (UKDV) FIRs. Previously,  guidance prohibited United States operators from entering either of these FIRs. According to the FAA, “security and safety conditions have sufficiently stabilized in certain regions of Ukraine, thereby reducing the area of hazard to U.S. […]

PBCS has been an ongoing PITA for some time now. We wrote about it back in March. Here are the top three questions we’ve had on it since then – and now we finally have some answers! Question 1: What happens if I still haven’t received my updated A056 LOA? After the PBCS tracks were […]

In Short: The switch from LTBA/Istanbul Ataturk to LTFM/Istanbul New Airport has effectively been postponed until the end of the year. LTFM will “officially” open on Oct 29, but it will only be available to Turkish carriers – everyone else will have to wait until Dec 30 before they can start using it. Istanbul’s new mega-airport […]

For the latest changes and updates on the North Atlantic, including our most recent Guides and Charts, use our NAT reference page at flightservicebureau.org/NAT. The NAT used to be simple. Fill your flask, fire up the HF, align the INS and away you went. Now, it’s a little more complicated. Basic Instruments are not enough. […]

For the latest changes and updates on the North Atlantic, including our most recent Guides and Charts, use our NAT reference page at flightservicebureau.org/NAT. Updated Oct 15, 2018: Updated RNP requirements for the PBCS Tracks, updated entry requirements for the NAT Tracks. Confused and overwhelmed with the changes on the North Atlantic of late? Especially […]

The United States is rolling out En Route FANS CPDLC during 2018-19, for all equipped, trained and permitted operators. The FAA’s Advisory Circular AC 90-117 outlines the requirements for U.S. operators. Trials have begun with KZID/Indianapolis going live with 24/7 ops starting last week. We also understand that KZME/Memphis and KZKC/Kansas City are still in […]

We reported a few months back that the Airport Authority (AAHK) and the Hong Kong Schedule Coordination Office (HKSCO) have decided to trial an increase in slot availability from 4 to 6 total slots each night. It looks like the trial is being extended until March 2019. The published details: Notice on night slot availability […]

In Short: The performance-based communication and surveillance (PBCS) framework allows for higher safety standards and more efficient airspace use. If your aircraft already has the equipment and you cross the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans often, it’s worth looking into getting your regulatory approval. PB… what? It’s a good question. We have so many acronyms in […]

We’ll use this page for NAT changes, including EGGX/Shanwick, CZQX/Gander, BIRD/Iceland, ENOB/Bodo, LPPO/Santa Maria, and KZWY/New York Oceanic East. 2018 Here are the latest important changes for the NAT. These are also published in the latest edition of NAT Doc 007, August 2018. PBCS From March 29th 2018, PBCS is a requirement for the daily mandated […]

New NOTAMS (pretty poorly written ones – but hey that’s another topic) have been issued for SCEL/Santiago in Chile, outlining some runway configuration changes between 31 October and 20 December, 2018. Operational Changes RWY 17L/35R will be closed for heavy maintenance between 1200z-2259z (0900L-2000L) daily except during low visibility operations.  (NOTAM A3273/18) New RWY 18/36 established on […]

Feeling the crush of operating to London at night? We’ve got some good news for you: ?? Luton (EGGW) will be back to 24 hour operations starting October 1, 2018 ?? Luton has been closed all summer between 2200Z and 0559Z for noise abatement regulations. However, these limitations have been lifted, and all will be back to […]

You were all very supportive when we wrote the initial article on the BS Notam problem last year, and have followed our journey in fixing the problem since then. Big news! The NTSB called the Notam System a bunch of garbage on Tuesday this week, and assigned probable cause of the AC759 incident in SFO […]

The pilot at the controls of a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air that crashed shortly after take off had the aircrafts rudder trim in the full left position for take off, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has found. The ATSB final report said the aircraft’s track began diverging to the left of the runway […]

Here’s the level of inconsistency we’ve reached in international air transport: we take each passenger, scrutinize their booking, check the no-fly-list, watch them on CCTV, pull them apart at TSA, remove anything sharper than a pen, question them, x-ray the bags, run Explosive Trace Detection tests, screen the hold baggage, background check every member of […]

There’s a new Customs restriction in place, reported at bothULLI/St Petersburg and UUWW/Moscow Vnukovo airports. The standard block of text doing the rounds is as follows: STARTING FROM 19/09/2018, IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE TO CHANGE THE ROUTE IN CUSTOMS DECLARATION FOR THE DOMESTIC LEG (E.G. IF THE NEXT POINT AFTER ULLI IS LOWW, IT […]